TGA 2025 Snubs: Overlooked Games & Missing Nominations

The nominations for The Game Awards 2025 have officially been unveiled, sparking both celebration and considerable debate across the gaming community. While 2025 stands out as an exceptionally robust year for new releases—with titans like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2, and Hades II earning coveted Game of the Year nods, and Expedition 33 making history with a record 12 nominations—our deep dive reveals a host of stellar titles that, in our expert opinion, were shockingly overlooked. These are the games that deserved a much brighter spotlight at this year's awards, showcasing the incredible depth and innovation present in 2025's gaming landscape.

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy – A Narrative Masterpiece Overlooked

Despite being hailed for its groundbreaking fusion of visual novel storytelling and engaging tactical gameplay, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy mysteriously received zero nominations. This ambitious title, a collaborative effort from Danganronpa’s Kazutaka Kodaka and Zero Escape’s Kotaro Uchikoshi, pushes genre boundaries with its bold concepts and delivers some of the year's most intricate twists, echoing the narrative brilliance last seen in Inscryption. It’s an egregious omission given its profound impact.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Game Direction
• Should have been nominated for: Best Score and Music
• Should have been nominated for: Best Narrative

South of Midnight – Sonic Storytelling Ignored

While securing two nominations for Innovation in Accessibility and Games for Impact, South of Midnight's most remarkable achievements in audio appear to have been severely underestimated. This action-adventure title masterfully employs oral storytelling through song, immersing players in a world where myth and reality blur. As Jordan Ramée eloquently noted in his review, "The sound design and music, more than anything, are a marvel," highlighting its "extremely catchy, lyric-driven songs."

• Should have been nominated for: Best Score and Music
• Should have been nominated for: Best Audio Design

Silent Hill F – A Triumphant Return Deserving Top Honors

Silent Hill F, a pivotal return for Konami’s iconic survival-horror series, garnered two nominations for Best Narrative and Best Audio Design. Yet, our analysis strongly suggests it merited much more. Following 2024's acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, Silent Hill F is heralded as Konami’s greatest mainline entry to date. Its abstract storytelling, unsettling creature design, haunting atmosphere, and Konatsu Kato's "devastatingly memorable performance as Hinako" elevate it to an entirely new echelon. Jessica Cogswell's review declared it "a remarkable evolution; it's a visual spectacle, a mastercraft in psychological horror, a work of narrative brilliance, and a new benchmark for the Silent Hill series."

• Should have been nominated for: Game of the Year
• Should have been nominated for: Best Game Direction
• Should have been nominated for: Best Art Direction
• Should have been nominated for: Best Performance (Konatsu Kato)

Dispatch – An Indie Narrative Powerhouse

Dispatch, a relatively new release, has already captivated a significant fanbase and achieved considerable success, earning a single nomination for Best Debut Indie Game. However, its true strength lies in its narrative, which powerfully harkens back to the quippy, edgy superhero films of the early 2010s while forging its own unique vision of a superhero-laden world. Jordan Ramée affirmed that its "writing and world-building behind its story are too good for this to be a one-and-done entry."

• Should have been nominated for: Best Narrative

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Troy Baker's Unsung Performance

MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a December 2024 release considered for the 2025 awards, secured a single nomination for Best Action Adventure Game. While this acknowledges its quality, we argue that Troy Baker’s standout performance as Indiana Jones, and indeed the game's overall brilliance, was profoundly overlooked. Richard Wakeling praised it as "the quintessential Indiana Jones game," capturing the franchise's spirit with a riveting story and an unexpected focus on stealth and exploration. The game’s design around Indy’s "scrappy persistence" makes its mix of improvisational stealth and combat truly distinct.

• Should have been nominated for: Game of the Year
• Should have been nominated for: Best Performance

Deltarune – Toby Fox's Musical Genius Deserves More

With zero nominations, the absence of Deltarune from the Best Score and Music category is baffling, given Toby Fox's renowned status as one of gaming's most notable composers since Undertale in 2015. Deltarune is brimming with phenomenal, frenetic, and moving tracks, many of which ingeniously sample and build upon themes from Undertale. Michael Higham highlighted the soundtrack as "the most important piece of the puzzle," noting how tracks like "Field Of Hopes And Dreams" powerfully evoke familiarity and empower exploration.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Score and Music

Blue Prince – An Indie Phenomenon Ignored for GOTY

Blue Prince, an intricate puzzle-meets-roguelike, became a cultural phenomenon, infiltrating nearly every online gaming community and sending players into a "delightful frenzy." Despite two nominations (Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Title), its omission from the Game of the Year category is a glaring oversight. Steve Watts described it as "one of the most memorable video game experiences," calling it "truly one of a kind" and asserting it's "one of the best games of 2025."

• Should have been nominated for: Game of the Year
• Should have been nominated for: Best Game Direction

Promise Mascot Agency – Wholesome Innovation Left Behind

Promise Mascot Agency, a major departure for Kaizen Game Works (developers of Paradise Killer), blends an open-world collectathon with a management sim in a surprisingly wholesome tale. Centering on an ex-yakuza managing living mascots—including a perpetually crying tofu—the game boasts excellent voice work, led by Kazuma Kiryu actor Takaya Kuroda, making its eccentricities truly memorable. Its complete absence from the nominations list is bewildering for such a unique indie offering.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Independent Game

Skin Deep – A Comedic Immersive Sim Masterclass

From the brilliant minds behind Quadrilateral Cowboy, Skin Deep delivers some of the year's best comedic writing alongside top-tier immersive-sim action (and, yes, cats!). Tasked with protecting spaceships from pirates, the game continually flexes players' ingenuity. Mark Delaney praised how it "takes the level design principles that players have enjoyed for decades and recontextualizes them for its brightly lit, goofier-than-usual world," confirming it "checks all the boxes of a great immersive sim." This zero-nomination status is a grave error.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Game Direction
• Should have been nominated for: Best Score and Music
• Should have been nominated for: Best Independent Game
• Should have been nominated for: Best Action Adventure Game

Wheel World – A Cozy Racing Gem Missed

Wheel World, with its open-world elements, lighthearted narrative, and enjoyable track-based racing, offers a distinct and cozy experience. Its wholesome world encourages players to stick around beyond simply improving their supernatural bike's stats. This delightful racing title, surprisingly, received no nominations.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Sports/Racing Game

Spooky Express – Mobile Excellence Undervalued

Though not exclusive to the platform, Spooky Express shines as an ideal mobile gaming experience. It's perfectly suited for short bursts, touchscreen controls, and provides consistently challenging yet fun puzzles without insidious monetization. The "eureka!" moments it delivers are the hallmark of the best puzzle games, yet it garnered zero nominations.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Mobile Game

Split Fiction – Hazelight's GOTY Contender Sidelined

Hazelight Studios, known for pushing cooperative gameplay boundaries, continues to excel with Split Fiction. It secured four nominations—Best Game Direction, Best Action Adventure Game, Best Family Game, and Best Multiplayer Game—but its exclusion from the Game of the Year category is a major point of contention. Learning from It Takes Two (a 2021 GOTY winner), Hazelight expanded on those ideas to create what Jessica Cogswell calls "the best cooperative game I've ever played," setting "a new standard for the genre" and serving as "a love letter to creativity."

• Should have been nominated for: Game of the Year

Keeper – A Visual and Auditory Masterpiece Unseen

Double Fine Productions' Keeper is an atmospheric, genre-defying experience, deeply guided by a love of art and a desire to push video game visuals to their absolute limits. Its phenomenal soundtrack further elevates this title to incredible heights. Steve Watts stated that it "goes to places I never would have expected—both mechanically and, especially, visually," with "visual moments in this game that are unlike anything I've ever seen." This trailblazing title received zero nominations.

• Should have been nominated for: Best Art Direction
• Should have been nominated for: Best Score and Music